Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Edward Henry John Mulholland, 4th Baron Dunleath, DL (1933–1993) was a Northern Irish politician and Territorial Army officer.

Early and personal life

Mulholland studied at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

.Oliver Pritchett, "The team with the fate of radio in its hands", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 29 May 1969 He was married to Dorinda (15 February 1929 – 19 March 2022), only daughter of

Arthur Percival Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, (26 December 1887 – 31 January 1966) was a British Army officer. He saw service in the First World War and built a successful military career during the interwar period, but is best known for his de ...

, on 5 December 1959.

Career

Mulholland succeeded as

Baron Dunleath Baron Dunleath, of Ballywalter in the County of Down, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 29 August 1892 for the businessman and former Conservative Member of Parliament for Downpatrick, John Mulholland. The Mul ...

in 1956 and entered the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. As Lord Dunleath, he became a deputy lieutenant of

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

and the commanding officer (lieutenant-colonel) of the

North Irish Horse The North Irish Horse was a yeomanry unit of the British Territorial Army raised in the northern counties of Ireland in the aftermath of the Second Boer War. Raised and patronised by the nobility from its inception to the present day, it was o ...

in the Territorial Army. He was also interested in vintage motoring. In August 1967, he was appointed to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's board of governors, taking over from Richard Pim as governor for Northern Ireland. In the early 1970s, Dunleath was active in the

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

and was an

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

member. However, he joined the

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. Following the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it was the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland ...

, and was elected for the party in North Down at the

1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election The 1973 elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly took place following the publication of the British government's white paper ''Northern Ireland Constitutional Proposals'' which proposed a 78-member Northern Ireland Assembly (1973), Northern ...

. He held the seat on the

Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (NICC) was an elected body set up in 1975 by the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK), Labour government of Harold Wilson as an attempt to deal with constitutional issues surrounding the status of N ...

.North Down 1973–1982
Northern Ireland Elections Dunleath was the only Alliance Party member in the House of Lords."Resignation", ''

'', 3 November 1979 While there, he strongly promoted the Education (Northern Ireland) Act, 1978, which permitted representatives of the

Roman Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

to take a role in the Protestant-dominated

state school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

system.Bob Rodwell, "A integrated, all-Protestant school", ''

'', 2 November 1981 He also attempted to introduce a bill to liberalise divorce law in Northern Ireland.Anne McHardy, "Divorce reform for Ulster", ''

'', 20 July 1977 Dunleath was chairman of a company which bid for the Independent Television licence for Northern Ireland in 1979. In order to place the bid, he was required to resign from his party affiliation, and thereafter sat as a

crossbencher A crossbencher is a minor party or independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. They take their name fr ...

. However, he was elected at the 1982 Assembly election for the Alliance Party again in North Down. On Dunleath's death, his title passed to his first cousin Michael Mulholland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulholland, Charles 1933 births 1993 deaths Alliance Party of Northern Ireland peers Dunleath 4 BBC governors Deputy lieutenants of Down Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly 1973–1974 Members of the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Northern Ireland MPAs 1982–1986 Ulster Defence Regiment officers Ulster Unionist Party hereditary peers People educated at Eton College North Irish Horse officers Alumni of the University of Cambridge

Early and personal life

Career

See also

References